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UMass: 18-Year-Old Raped In Dorm Room, Four Arrested In Connection

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Four teenagers accused of raping a University of Massachusetts student in her dorm room pleaded not guilty on Monday.

The Oct. 13 attack happened around 1 a.m. after someone else signed the teenagers into the dorm on the UMass flagship campus in Amherst, police said. The teenagers aren’t students at the university, but the victim knew them, police said.

Defendants Emmanuel Bile, Justin King and Adam Licciardi are 18 years old. Defendant Caleb Womack is 17. They’re all from Pittsfield, about 45 miles west of Amherst.

A judge on Monday set bail at $10,000 cash for each defendant and said they must wear GPS tracking, a Northwestern district attorney’s office spokeswoman said from district court in Belchertown.

Student employees work as security monitors to help residents sign guests into dorms starting at 8 p.m., and residents have key fobs that restrict access to stairs and elevators, school officials said.

There wasn’t any damage to the dorm room door that would indicate forcible entry, and it was still under investigation whether the door was locked, UMass Amherst police Chief John Horvath said. There also didn’t appear to be signs of a struggle in the room, he said.

The victim reported the rape at 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 14, the police chief said.

University officials told other students about the case on Monday. The chief said investigators quickly determined there was no danger to anyone else on campus and telling people about the case earlier might have harmed the investigation.

University officials said they are reviewing security procedures, and Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said in a statement that violence won’t be tolerated on the campus, located on 1,400-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley.